Citing a fast-growing backlog of unresolved disability claims, veterans groups and members of Congress are calling for an overhaul of Department of Veterans Affairs procedures for handling cases.

The number of unprocessed disability claims has grown by nearly 100,000 since the beginning of the year and totaled 916,625 as of Saturday, a rise driven in part by increasing numbers of veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.), who last week chaired a House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee meeting titled "Can VA Manage One Million Claims?," said the department needs "a cultural and management sea change."

Veterans "are waiting to have their claims and appeals processed," Hall said at the hearing last Thursday. "They are waiting for compensation. They are waiting for medical assistance and rehabilitation."

The American Legion, the nation's largest veterans service organization, says immediate reform is needed. "As the backlog of claims approaches 1 million, and the needs of deserving veterans go unmet, VA can wait no longer to institute new and workable policies and procedures," said David K. Rehbein, the national commander.

But the VA contends that the 1 million figure is misleading and that, in any event, it is incorrect to refer to it as backlog.

About 234,000 of the unresolved cases involve claims that are awaiting adjustment. An additional 195,000 are on appeal, and about 79,000 are considered miscellaneous. The remaining 410,000 cases are original or reopened claims for disability compensation and represent the "core" of the VA claims inventory, said Michael Walcoff, deputy undersecretary for benefits.

"While we currently have approximately 400,000 claims in our inventory, the majority of these claims are not 'backlogged,' " Walcoff told the subcommittee in prepared testimony. "The inventory is dynamic rather than static. It includes all claims received, whether pending for just a few hours or as long as six months."

Critics accuse the VA of resorting to semantics. "It seems like they're looking at ways to minimize the significance of it," said Steve Smithson, deputy director of veterans affairs and rehabilitation at the American Legion.

"At the end of the day, these are still individual veterans waiting for benefits they were promised," said Meaghan Smith, a spokeswoman for Hall. "If you asked the veteran waiting, he or she would call it a backlog."

For Army veteran David Bohan, who fought with the 1st Infantry Division during the Persian Gulf War, the bottom line is that it takes veterans too long to navigate the system. "This is very frustrating and very time-consuming," Bohan told the subcommittee. "I understand why so many people just give up."

But the VA said veterans have shorter waits, despite the 13.5 percent increase in the number of claims since last year. The average amount of time to resolve disability claims is 162 days, compared with 179 the previous year, according to the VA. About 20 percent of the cases have been pending for more than half a year.